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Victory in New Mexico’s Lawsuit, Again

My most recent post about the state of New Mexico (here) included an explanation of a New Mexico Judge’s ruling to postpone New Mexico’s state-wide teacher evaluation trial until October 2016, with the state’s December 2015 preliminary injunction (described here) in place until (at least) then.

New Mexico’s Public Education Department (PED) recently, however, also tried to appeal the Judge’s October 2016 injunction, and took it to New Mexico’s Court of Appeals for an emergency review of the Judge’s injunction order.

The state and its PED lost, again. Here is the court order, which essentially says that the appeal was denied, and pasted below is the press release, released by the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico and Albuquerque Teachers Federation (i.e., the plaintiffs in this case).

Court Denies Request from Public Education Department; Keeps Case in District Court

March 16, 2016

Contact: John Dyrcz
505-554-8679

Albuquerque – American Federation of Teachers New Mexico (AFT NM) President Stephanie Ly and Albuquerque Teachers Federation (ATF) President Ellen Bernstein released the following statement:

“We are not surprised by today’s decision of the New Mexico Court of Appeals denying the New Mexico Public Education Department’s request for an interlocutory – or emergency – review of District Court Judge David Thomson’s injunction order. The December 2015 injunction preventing the PED from using its faulty evaluation system to penalize educators was well reasoned and the product of a fair and lengthy series of hearings over four months.

“We have maintained throughout this process that while the PED has every right to pursue all legal options under our judicial system, these frequent attempts at disrupting the progress of this case are nothing more than an attempt to stall the momentum of our efforts to seek relief for New Mexico’s education community.

“With this order, the case returns to Judge Thomson for final testimony from our expert witnesses, and we are pleased that the temporary injunction granted in December of 2015 will remain in place until at least October of 2016, when AFT NM and ATF will seek to make the injunction permanent,” said Ly and Bernstein.

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